"

the Name brought poor fellow's mind back. 'Ah! that a Friend of mine," then relapsed into delirium.)

(ii.) Our Christian name.

Choosing a name for new baby is, amongst many nations, looked on as important. (Example.-In Egyptian family, see "Thoughts for Teachers," i.) 1. What shall our name be to ourselves?

Constant reminder that we are Christians. Where first written? Baptism register in church. Think of self at font. Clergyman holding you in arms, saying "Name this child?" Godparents' answer. Clergyman speaks to you by name. "I baptize thee," &c. Entry in register. Where else hope it is? (St. Luke x. 20.) Lamb's Book of Life (Rev. iii. 5; Phil. iv. 3, last part). Christ knows your name as of one of His sheep. How happy to hear His voice calling your name! Eastern shepherd knowing each sheep by face, calling name of each (St. John x. 3). Your name, where shall it be found? Inside prize book? Well up class list, as diligent? On a tombstone? When? Where? Not on any black list. Always as a reminder, "I am a Christian," not to disgrace your calling (Eph. iv. 1).

III. THOUGHTS See Note 4 (b) of last Lesson as to reason for beginning the Catechism with "What is your name?"

1. The following paragraph from the Church Worker, 1895, "On the Giving of Names," is interesting enough in this connexion to be reproduced.

'Apropos of the naming of the newlyarrived infant, it may not be out of place to recall a few curious customs which prevail in some countries in regard to selecting a name for the baby. A Hindoo baby is named when twelve days old, and usually by the mother. Sometimes the father wishes for another name than that selected by the mother; in that case two lamps are placed over the two names, and the name over which the lamp burns the brightest is the one given to the child.

"In the Egyptian family the parents choose a name for their baby by lighting three wax candles; to each of these they give a name, one of the three always belonging to some deified personage. The candle that burns the longest bestows the name upon the baby.

"The Mohammedans sometimes write desirable names on five slips of paper,

2. What shall our name be to others? May make it pleasant or hateful (as rose or rue). Some names loved, not because sweet sounding, or of pretty meaning, but they recall person, brave, kind, true, good. Yours may become most pleasant, so that others joy to hear it called out ". is here," or see it written at foot of letter. Brother, sister, friend, parent love it-if what? Names sometimes hated by world because borne by Christians (St. Luke vi. 22). No matter if loved by God's children, if known to angels. (Example.-Loved names, Dorcas, Ruth, Gordon, &c.)

Think of names being called after a battle-" roll call"; some names received with blank silence. What mean? Fallen, beaten, never be called again. Other names answered to quickly, brightly; there, safe. A few feebly; there, yet hurt. Imagine, great fight with evil is over; roll call; those who have not fallen away; gathering of victors; glad to answer to name "Here." Others who entered Christ's army not answer to names at end (Ps. ix. 5). What of yours then ? Christ to Christians at Sardis (Rev. iii. 5). Voice of Christ calling names then. Oh to answer 'Here, Lord," when He calls ours.

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FOR TEACHERS.

and these they place in the Koran. The name upon the first slip drawn out is given to the child. The children of the Ainos, a people living in Northern Japan, do not receive their names

until they are five years old. It is the father who then chooses the name by which the child is afterwards to be called.

"The Chinese give their boy babies a name in addition to their surname, and they must call themselves by these names until they are twenty years old. At that age the father gives his son a new name. The Chinese care so little for their girl babies that they do not give them a baby name, but just call them Number One, Number Two, Number Three, Number Four, and SO on, according to their birth. Boys are thought so much more of in China than girls are, that if you ask a Chinese father who has both a boy and a girl how many children he has, he will reply, 'Only one child.' German parents sometimes change the name of their baby if it is ill; and the Japanese are said to change the name of their children four times."

2. Surnames became general in England about the time of the Conquest. They were, of course, first given to distinguish different persons who bore the same Christian names, as William the Hunter, John the Tanner; or Johnson, i.e., son of John; Robinson, i.e., son of Robin, &c.

3. The Church only knows us by our Christian name, thus in the marriage service the parties are only addressed by their Christian names. Bishops of the Church lose their surnames altogether from the day of their consecration.

4. "Jesus" is the Greek form of the name Joshua, or Jeshua, a contraction of Jehoshua, "help of Jehovah," or

Saviour." The Name occurs (Col. iv. 11): "Jesus, which is called Justus." Bar-Jesus (Acts xiii. 6), probably Jesus Barabbas (St. Matt. xxvii. 16, R.V.). Twelve other people of the same name, Dean Farrar says, are alluded to in "Josephus" alone.

St.

5. The circumcision was doubtless performed by Joseph, and the presence of witnesses was necessary. Special prayers were offered on the occasion, a chair was placed for the Prophet Elijah, as the precursor of the Messiah, and a feast terminated the ceremony. Bonaventura, in his "Vita Christi," remarks, "We Christians have Baptism, a rite of fuller grace and free from pain. Nevertheless we ought to practise circumcision of the heart."-(Quoted by Dean Farrar.)

Our

6. "We bring our name into the world with us which we derive from parents, and which seems to remind us of our original guilt, and that we are born in sin; but this new name is given us in our Baptism to remind us of our new birth. We are being washed in the laver of regeneration, we are thereby cleansed from our natural impurities, and become in a manner new creatures, and are solemnly dedicated to God. So that the naming of children at this time hath been thought by many to import something more than ordinary, and to carry with it a mysterious signification. We find something like it even among the heathens, for the Romans had a custom of naming their children on the day of their lustration (i.e., when they were cleansed and washed from their natural pollution), which was therefore called The Day of the Name.' And the Greeks also, when they carried their infants, a little after their birth, about the fire (which was their ceremony

of dedicating or consecrating them to their gods), were used at the same time to give them their names." (Wheatly, "Common Prayer.")

7. "The whole Aryan family believed at one time not only that his name was a part of a man, but that it was the part of him which is termed the soul, the breath of life, or whatever you may choose to define it as being."—(Prof. Rhys, quoted in "The Evil Eye" by F. T. Elworthy.)

8. "And I will not blot out his name out of the roll of life,' that list of the saved, of which we hear so much in the later and earliest chapters of this Revelation of St. John. His name shall not be erased from the record of the citizens of the heavenly city, and 'I will acknowledge his name before My Father and before His angels.' Perhaps we may say with Scriptural truth that the names of all of us are entered at Baptism as citizens of the heavenly city, but that not all will be found there when the books are opened in the judgment. A process of erasure is ever going on, beside the process of entering when the soul has finally taken its choice of evil, when Christ is utterly denied on earth and trodden under foot, when the defilement of sin has become inveterate and indelible, then the pen is drawn through the guilty name, then the inverted style smears the wax over the unworthy characters, and when the owner of that name applies afterwards for admittance, the answer is, 'I know thee not; depart hence, thou willing worker and lover of iniquity." "—("Lectures on the Revelation," by Dean Vaughan.)

9. "A name truly good is the aroma from virtuous character. It is such a name as is not only remembered on earth, but written in heaven. Just as a box of spikenard is not only valuable to its possessor, but pre-eminently precious in its diffusion, so when a name is really good, it is of unspeakable service to all who are capable of feeling its aspiration.”—(Dr. J. Hamilton.)

10. The teacher might perhaps tell the children of his or her class what their Christian names mean, of any pleasant associations which gather round each name, or any good person who bore it: also question each child as to which church he or she was baptized in.

II. "They alone who are truly in the spirit circumcised with Him shall receive that incommunicable Name by

which they are known unto God; and as they partake of His circumcision, they shall partake also of that salvation

which is in the Name of Jesus."— (Isaac Williams.)

Collect for Circumcision.

21. What does a member mean? A member means a part, as a limb is part of the body, or a branch part of a tree, or a stone part of a building (1 Cor. xii. 27; St. John xv. 5; 1 Pet. ii. 5).

22. What do all the members of Christ together form ?

All the members of Christ together form Christ's Church; so a member of Christ is a part of Christ's Church (Eph. i. 22, 23).

23. Who is it that baptizes?

It is the clergyman who performs the outward part of Baptism, but it is the Holy Ghost Who does the good work in the soul.

24. What is the work of the Holy Ghost in Baptism?

The work of the Holy Ghost in Baptism is to give us the new birth unto righteousness and to graft us into Christ (St. John iii. 5, 6; Rom. xi. 24).

25. Say words of the Bible which speak of being made members of Christ by Baptism.

"By One Spirit ye are all baptized into One Body" (1 Cor. xii. 12, 13). "The Church, which is His body (Eph. i. 22, 23). "We are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones " (Eph. v. 30).

26. What are we also as members of Christ?

As members of Christ we are also

each one "the child of God," being adopted into God's family (St. John i. 12; 1 John iii. 1-3).

27. How does God enrich his adopted children ?

God enriches his adopted children by making them to be inheritors (or heirs) of the kingdom of heaven, as St. Paul says, "If children, then heirs" (Rom. viii. 17).

28. What is the kingdom of heaven? The kingdom of heaven is God's kingdom of grace now on earth, that is to say, His Church; and His kingdom of glory hereafter in heaven (St. Matt. xiii. 38, 41, 43; Heb. xii. 22-24; St. Matt. xxv. 34).

29. How must we show that we are God's children?

We must show that we are God's children by living as the Holy Spirit leads us. "As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God" (Rom. viii. 14).

30. What service of the Church should follow after Holy Baptism?

After Holy Baptism should follow, in due time, Confirmation or Laying on of Hands, after the example of the Apostles. "Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost" (Acts viii. 16, 17, and xix. 6).

II. THE INSTRUCTION. Read St. John i. 1—14. (Picture to be used, "The Holy Family," by Lorenzo di Credi, in the Pitti Gallery, Florence.)

This picture taken from a beautiful painting in Florence. Why valuable? (a) For its beauty; (b) For the great truth it sets forth. Whilst you look at the picture say these words, "He became the Son of Man that I might ' be the child of God."

(i.) Christ as the Member of an earthly family.

Look at our picture. The Holy Child. Head on a few sticks to mark how poor He was. A wee Child, yet how long had He really lived? (Ps. xc. 2.)

Who His mother? His Father? What was Joseph to Him? In place of earthly father. Holy Babe in the picture is like a magnet. (What that? It has power to draw certain other things to itself.) See, blessed Virgin is drawn to Him. What is flowing out from her heart to Him? Strong mother-love and worship. Joseph drawn. Sometimes you see him with a saw, marking his trade and his readiness to labour for Jesus and Mary; he would lose his life rather than they should want. Unseen angels are drawn towards Holy Child. In our picture the very cattle seem drawn to Him; all drawn to the Holy Child in wonder.

Happy home where this family lived. Nazareth; on a hill, beautiful views, bright flowers, though poorly thought of (St. John i. 46). Happy home of Jesus and Mary!

Look at Holy Child. Two questions(a) What had Christ laid aside?

His glory as God (Isa. vi. 1-5 with Phil. ii. 6, 7). (Illust.-In a dockyard in Holland 200 years ago an industrious workman working at shipbuilding, using common tools side by side with others, clad as they, greatly interested in work.

did not believe in Him (St. John vii. 5). Lovely character revealed, but His glory as God veiled (Isa. liii. 2); few saw it all, as in St. John i. 14.

(b) Why had He thus laid aside His glory?

He became Child of an earthly family that He might draw us all up into the Heavenly Family; make us all children of God. (Illust.-Sweep up the dust out of metal-worker's shop, gather it up, take a magnet, pass it over that dust. All the atoms of metal, drawn out

After a time he went away, and it was found that he was Czar of Russia, Peter the Great; his kingliness laid aside, working and living as others, for a great purpose-his country's good.) Thus veiled from human eyes was Christ's glory (Isa. vi. I-5). Seraphims hiding faces, prophet's lament (ver. 5) (compare St. John xii. 41). (Enlarge on the mystery: Babe nursed in Mary's arms was the great God Whom heavens adored; tiny hand which grasps a flower was hand of Him that made world, &c.) His glory so veiled that His brethren

others, yet all beautiful in the dark sky; a picture of the great Heavenly Family; part here, part at home with God, their Father.

Again two questions

(a) How does each one become the "child of God"?

(1) By creation. He made us in His own image (Gen. i. 27). But we all became separated from Him by sin, as Absalom from his father (2 Sam. xiv. 14). (2) By adoption. Being united to Christ, the God-Man, our spirit with His Spirit. This the purpose of our Baptism, to unite us to Christ that we might be God's children, "wherein I was made a member of Christ, the child of God" (Rom. viii. 15-17). But we want to see the "family likeness." What is seen in all the faces in our picture? Holiness-"the Holy Family." You can sometimes when you go into a school pick out all the children of one family by the family likeness. Holiness is the "family likeness" in God's family. This should be seen in each of God's children. God desires for His children that they be holy and happy here and hereafter (St. Matt. v. 45-48; 1 Pet. i. 14-16).

(b) What belongs to each of us as the child of God?

We

A share in Christ's inheritance. to share all with the Elder Brother. We must believe this, live for it, keep hold of it by faith (see 1 Pet. i. 3-7). Catechism: I was made... the child of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven." Examine picture once more: the background. Painter tried

It is,

III. THOUGHTS 1. The doctrine of the Incarnation calls especially for treatment in connexion with the article of the Creed, "born of the Virgin Mary." however, highly important that prominence should be given to that doctrine at the very opening of Catechism instruction, for the Incarnation lies behind the whole Catechism.

2. There need be no timidity or halting speech in setting forth the privileges and blessedness of a baptized child. If Christ instituted Sacraments, then He meant them to be channels of grace (see Article xxvii.). In infants there can be no impenitence or unbelief to bar the grace from being imparted with the outward rite. Therefore we have, in the case of a baptized infant, absolute certainty as to its being a "child of grace." Together with this

his best to make it beautiful; tried to paint the fairest scene he knew. Southern land, mountains, blue waters, bright sky, beauteous trees and flowers; many such scenes in this world, but hardly worthy to be thought of when compared with the beauty of the heavenly inheritance (Isa. lxiv. 4; Eph. i. 18; St. John xiv. 1-3).

Here is a resolution for each to make in six small words, I will live as God's child. A younger brother of Jesus must not disgrace the Holy Family; his great inheritance must not be trifled with, forfeited, lost. A child of the kingdom must not be cast out. "I will live as God's child." Help will come if resolve and pray. Perhaps as yet you have been careless, drifting, letting the blessing slip away. Now to be in earnest, lay hold of help God offers you. Live as His child-"a member of Christ." At a Bible class far away in British Columbia, they had been studying Rom. xii. 5, talking about being joined to Christ, and He our Head. If we are members we must help one another," said the teacher; and this was the prayer of one of the scholars, "O Lord, I would rather be Thy little finger than be divided from Thee. Have mercy upon me, and make use of me." Christ's "little finger"; so near to Him; part of Him; so full of blessing for others. (Dwell on the thought of the "little finger"-the ring on it, the use of it in playing music, the disfigurement and loss if cut off, and the pain it causes the head if hurt, &c.)

FOR TEACHERS.

certainty as to the blessedness of a baptized child, we must also give prominence to the three following dogmatic statements :

(a) That the Incarnation of the Son of God has affected for good the whole human race, has brought man into a closer relationship with God, and whilst speaking of the blessedness of the baptized child, we are not called upon to pronounce that children, who for any reason die unbaptized, are cut off from such blessedness.

(6) That the real Baptizer is the Holy Spirit, Who employs human instruments; that He is not necessarily tied to means, and that He may, and often no doubt does, see fit to baptize those who for reasons other than wilful disobedience have not shared in the outward part of the Sacrament. This